Immigration Debate

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity &Colmes," June 7, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

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ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Officials in the Mexican state of Yucatan have published an 87-page handbook for potential migrants to the United States. The guide and its accompanying DVD tells migrants how to legally apply for U.S. work visas but also provides detailed advice for crossing the border illegally.

Joining us now is Juan Hernandez, who served the Vicente Fox government as liaison to Mexicans abroad.

Juan, I know it caters to illegals. But I view it differently. The purpose of the book is to save lives. I have actually looked at this. That's a worthy goal. Isn't that what this is all about?

JUAN HERNANDEZ, FORMER MEXICAN CABINET OFFICIAL: Definitely. This is another cry from now a small state in Mexico, another cry for let's fix what is broken in the U.S.-Mexico immigration policies. It has been now decades in which we have not created a new program so that employers in the United States can hire those people that they do need and so that people can come up from Mexico to work without risking their lives through the desert.

COLMES: It tells them how to — 11 pages on how to get a visa. It does say where the water stations are. Now, many people who are anti-immigrant will say, why do they do that? Why show them the safe way to do this? Is that a fair criticism?

HERNANDEZ: Oh, I can understand people being upset about this, of course. But we have to remember that there are people in this country also that are very, very upset. There are people putting buckets of water to help the individuals. There are credit unions that are now opening up their doors and giving financial education.

And by the way, there are two presidents, I believe, both George W. Bush and Vicente Fox, that are trying to create a new program. And there are a couple of bills that are good out there, for example, the McCain-Kennedy.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Hey, Juan. I'm sorry. They're giving advice about water stations. They're giving advice about how to deal with the temperature. They're giving advice about how to deal with wild animals, the need for salt, the need for water.

What they really need to be telling people is, "Stay home." They really need to be telling people that the United States of America respect their laws, respect their sovereignty. It's breaking the law. And there should be a punishment for breaking the law, shouldn't there?

HERNANDEZ: I agree with you, but that is being done. When I worked for Vicente Fox, I made some videos that went in all of the buses throughout Mexico saying, "Don't risk it. Don't risk it. You can die going to the United States."

HANNITY: Juan, when I interviewed him...

HERNANDEZ: But unfortunately, there is also a pull, my friend, not just a push to come to the United States.

HANNITY: But you know what it is? Because I actually — I don't really blame the people of Mexico that want a better life. I do blame the government for not doing a good enough job reforming the economy.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: And I do blame the United States of America for not controlling its own borders. This is our job. And the fact is, is we need troops on the border to prevent people that are coming over to this country, not necessarily people that just want to work.

But we have got to worry about Al Qaeda members. We've got to worry about the enemies of this country. We've got to worry about people that would take a suitcase-sized nuke across the border. Our government is failing us more than anything else. We need to control America borders.

HERNANDEZ: I agree with you that both governments have failed us. But we don't have to put more...

HANNITY: Yes, we do. Yes, we do.

HERNANDEZ: ... more of army. What we need is a new program. And we can create it. It's not that difficult...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: But Mexico should stop encouraging it and giving advice on how to break our laws.

COLMES: It's about saving lives. Saving lives.

(CROSSTALK)

COLMES: We thank you very much.

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